


An Old Photograph

by TheTimeTraveler24



Series: Happy 27th Birthday, Percy! [3]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M, Post-The Burning Maze (Trials of Apollo), Post-The Heroes of Olympus, Post-The Trials of Apollo, percabeth as parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:28:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25980619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheTimeTraveler24/pseuds/TheTimeTraveler24
Summary: There's a framed photograph on the wall of the Jackson household. It's got a place of honor right next to the wedding picture and the kids' pictures. It's not in very good condition though. The people in it look awful and the edges are all burnt and faded.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Calypso/Leo Valdez, Hazel Levesque/Frank Zhang, Jason Grace/Piper McLean, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Series: Happy 27th Birthday, Percy! [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1885465
Comments: 6
Kudos: 200





	An Old Photograph

There were a lot of pictures in the Jackson house. Most were pictures of a black haired, green eyed boy with a blonde haired, grey eyed girl. They varied in ages from twelve to mid twenties. Sometimes there were others with them. Others the same age as them in the pictures or little children in their arms.

Three kids seemed to pop up most often. One girl and two boys.

The girl was the oldest of the three and she had the same blonde hair as the other girl, but bright green eyes like the boy.

The two boys were like carbon copies of the boy and the girl. The oldest boy has blonde hair and grey eyes while the younger boy had black hair and green eyes.

The five people that seemed to come up most often in the Jackson house’s pictures were the five members of the Jackson family. Percy and Annabeth Jackson and their three children Cassidy, Hadrian, and Zale Jackson.

There was one photograph though that was different than all the rest. It was burnt at the edges and it was in horrible condition.

Yet it was framed in a place of honor. Right in the middle of the photograph wall.

There were ten people in the picture. Nine teenagers and one disgruntled adult.

Percy and Annabeth were in it, although they looked worse for the wear. They looked starved and tired, but they had bright smiles on their faces like being with friends made everything worth it. They sat with their arms around each other at the base of a gleaming statue on the left side of the picture.

Next to them (or rather, the statue) was another couple. A girl who looked of Native descent had her head leaned against the shoulder of a blonde All American type boy with blonde hair. His arm was wrapped around the girl and, like Percy and Annabeth, they were smiling widely.

The girl next to them was heavily banged up like she had just finished fighting her way past a few dozen enemies by herself. She wasn’t smiling, but she held herself up proudly like a warrior which matched the armor that she was dressed in.

The single adult was next to her. He had a baseball bat slung over his shoulder and he stared straight into the camera like he was ready to attack with said baseball bat at a moment's notice if needed.

A Latino boy was next to him. He had struck a pose for the picture and gave the camera a mischievous grin. A ball of fire danced in the palm of his hand.

The last was a group of three. The girl in the middle had her arms around two boys, one on either side of her. She was African American with wild curly hair and a blinding smile that radiated pure happiness. The boy on the left was Asian and he offered a small smile that gave him a shy look. The boy on the right was paler than a sheet of paper and his black hair and clothes stood out against his white skin. He wasn’t smiling and looked quite uncomfortable with everything.

It wasn’t a very good picture, regardless of the condition the photograph was in. Some weren’t smiling and others looked gravely sick or injured.

But if compared to the other photographs in the house, there was one very small detail that was the key to understanding the importance of the picture. The reason why such a terrible, fire and time damaged picture deserved a spot next to Percy and Annabeth’s wedding picture and most recent images of their three children.

The ten people in the picture weren’t in any other pictures together..

Well, some of them were in the same picture. There was a picture of the Native American girl and the Latino boy. One of the warrior girl with the pale boy and the African American girl. The blonde boy and Percy were in a picture with their arms wrapped around each other in a side hug and their free arms holding out thumbs up.

But there weren’t any pictures of the blonde boy and the Latino boy. In general, there were few pictures of the Latino boy with anyone other than a girl with caramel hair. Most of those pictures tended to be from various places around the world. Even pictures of the warrior girl seemed to have only come from roughly the same time since the girl never seemed to age.

It was now that Percy Jackson stared at the old, damaged photograph, seemingly lost in thought.

“What are you thinking?” Annabeth asked.

Percy traced the image. “I’m thinking this life has taken a lot from us. And I’ve also been thinking about how far we’ve come since then. I never thought this,” he gestured around, “would be possible for us. Normal lives, you know?”

“Demigods don’t have normal lives,” Annabeth pointed out.

“The past few years have been normal enough,” Percy said. “I have three kids and an amazing wife who I love more than anything. Even blue food.”

Annabeth raised her eyebrows. “Ooooh, I know I’m special when I’m better than blue food.” She kissed him and then pulled back. “We really need to get going though. We have to meet up with them before we head to Camp. Ugh, I can’t wait to see Chiron and Rachel. We haven’t seen them in person in ages.”

They gazed at the picture one last time before heading out to the car in the driveway. Three kids, ages 5, 4, and 2 almost 3 were buckled into their carseats.

“Mommy, where are we going?” Cassidy asked as Percy pulled out of the driveway.

Annabeth looked back. “We’re going to see Uncle Will, Uncle Nico, Quinn, and Sierra.”

“They live so far away,” Cassidy complained. “Are we going to take an airplane?”

“Absolutely not,” Percy said quickly.

Cassidy slumped. “Why not?” she whined. “It would be faster and cooler.”

“Because daddy’s not allowed to fly,” Percy scowled. “There’s a big meanie that decided that daddy flying an airplane is a terrible thing that should never be allowed to happen.”

Thunder boomed outside even though it was a sunny day.

“Yeah, yeah,” Percy muttered.

**Author's Note:**

> It wasn't supposed to be sad. Well, I mean, it was, but... when I went to write this is when I realized that Jason and Leo wouldn't ever be in a picture together. 
> 
> Also, I got the name Hadrian from a chat fic I read once where they were talking about how Annabeth would name her kid Hadrian. I don't remember the name or I'd put it here, but if you know what I'm talking about, please let me know.
> 
> Also, also, I do plan to eventually write something about all the kids, but not right now.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Memories](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27499717) by [greenpinkandbeige](https://archiveofourown.org/users/greenpinkandbeige/pseuds/greenpinkandbeige)




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